


Impromptus Barbecues for Spies, Assassins, and the Odd Superhero

by laral



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Jossed, Memory Alteration, Not Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Compliant, Not Beta Read, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Tahiti is a Magical Place, Undercover, Unethical Experimentation, Unethical Medicine, Work In Progress, so far - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-15
Updated: 2014-09-23
Packaged: 2018-02-08 22:26:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 14,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1958415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laral/pseuds/laral
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a quinjet needs to make an emergency landing at the Avengers Tower, its inhabitants discover that SHIELD did not went down quietly after the events of CA:TWS.</p><p>**************</p><p>'What kind of mission were you at the time of the attack? Were you able to finish it? Did you contact the Playground?' - Hill asked, her lips turning into a fine line with all the possibilities and repercussions.<br/>'Yes, we spoke with the Playground. But we were not on a mission. We were having a barbecue.' - May said</p><p>At that, Hill, Pepper, and Stark finally noticed their guests' clothes, that is, besides the fact that they were rumpled and blood stained. Both Barnes and May wore shorts, t-shirts, and sandals, while the girl, Skye, had a pink dress on. Was Coulson wearing linen pants and a guayabera? Jesus, Stark was staring at the Winter Soldier's toes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, this is my first fanfic and there is no beta read. So, if you stumble onto any spelling or grammatical mistake, feel free to point it out.  
> Yes, you read it right, Coulson and Triplett are an item here. No idea how this happened, but these two spies dorks are in love. If this, or any other couple don't rock your boat, fear not! This is a Gen fic, so any hanky panky is left to your imagination.  
> If I forgot to tag something important, please give me a warn.  
> I hope you have fun.

It was saturday morning at the Avengers Tower, though the particular day of the week was not of great importance for its inhabitants. Tony Stark was raised without the concept of weekends. Pepper Potts had a multinational multi-billion dollars conglomerate to rule. Bruce Banner spent his days between physics and a very understaffed free clinic. Maria Hill discretely coordinated the intelligence community, without the knowledge of most members of said community. The Tower had other more seasonal inhabitants, in form of the remaining Avengers, that stayed at their designated floors whenever in Manhattan and also didn't have 9 to 5 jobs.

But at that particular saturday morning, Tony, Pepper, and Bruce happened to be at the same place, the penthouse’s kitchen, having brunch and making plans for the Annual Maria Stark Foundation Gala. Well, Pepper and Tony made plans, since they both weren’t able to attend the previous ball due to the whole Mandarin debacle. Bruce sipped his tea and hoped that the floor would open and swallow him before someone mentioned his name and White Tie on the same sentence. Thankfully, JARVIS saved him from both fates, at least for a while:

‘Sir, the ETA for the quinjet is two minutes.’

‘JARVIS, explain. I don’t remember authorizing any landing.’ - Stark looked at Pepper, who shook her head. ‘JARVIS, cancel the landing permission and start the defense protocol.’

‘Wait a minute, please, JARVIS. I need to talk with Mr. Stark’.’- Hill entered the kitchen - ‘The jet is SHIELD. I was the one who asked JARVIS to authorize its landing.’

‘What! You can’t do that.’- Stark once more turned to Pepper - ‘Can she do that? And what the hell! SHIELD no longer exists, I watched it burn on live television. I DVR’ed the whole thing!’

‘I asked JARVIS nicely’- Hill answered. - ‘And you really thought you could privatize  world security without SHIELD’s know-how?’

‘That’s why I hired you.’ - Stark said.

‘Yes, you did.’- Hill smiled sweetly.

 ‘I’m sorry to interrupt, sir, but the quinjet informs that one of its passengers is injured and repeats its requests to land.’- JARVIS said.

With that bit of news, Bruce jumped from his chair, eyeing Tony.

‘Great. Yes, JARVIS, they can land.’ - Stark said. Bruce ran to the elevator.

‘We’ll talk about this later, Maria.’ - Pepper said.

‘I understand, Pepper. Right now, I’m going to the roof  meet the med staff and wait for the jet.’ - Maria said

‘Oh, we’re going with you.’- Pepper said while getting up, followed by Tony.

‘Yes, I got to check their know-how.’ - Stark said, while the three left the kitchen.

 

They arrived at the roof as the quinjet opened its cargo door. Dr. Fahez, Nurse Molina, and Bruce on stand-by. The first person to exit the jet was a woman on her early twenties, who looked scared and a little bit queasy. She waved to the med team, urging them to come closer, faster. She was followed by a man with a prosthetic metal arm, maybe in his thirties, carrying an older man, who seemed unconscious. The med team ran towards them, quickly lying the senseless man on the gurney. As they checked his vitals, he started to convulse.

Another woman, also older than the first one, left the quinjet, its door closing behind her. Gently, she put her hand on the flesh shoulder of the younger man, speaking in a low voice and explaining to him that those were good men, that they were there to help. While she spoke, the seizure stopped and the med team plus Banner rolled the gurney to the elevator, followed by the younger woman.

'Pepper, Tony, these are Melinda May and James Barnes. I believe you two already met Coulson. The other woman is Skye.' - Hill said . May nodded while the others remained as statues. - 'Melinda, what happened?'

'We were ambushed and the Tower was the closest safe place to land.' - May said

'What kind of mission were you at the time of the attack? Were you able to finish it? Did you contact the Playground?' - Hill asked, her lips turning into a fine line with all the possibilities and repercussions.

'Yes, we spoke with the Playground. But we were not on a mission. We were having a barbecue.' - May said

At that, Hill, Pepper, and Stark finally noticed their guests’ clothes, that is, besides the fact that they were rumpled and blood stained. Both Barnes and May wore shorts, t-shirts, and sandals, while the girl, Skye, had a pink dress on. Was Coulson wearing linen pants and a guayabera? Jesus, Stark was staring at the Winter Soldier's toes.

'So, you people took the day of on the whole lying, killing, and spying business?' - Stark asked

'Don't worry. We have people covering our shifts'. - May answered.

'I like her. She's feisty.' - Stark

'Oh, you're better not knowing the half of it.' - Hill said.

'May, I need to go see Coulson.' - was the first thing Barnes said, measuring each syllable.

'Wait.' - Tony said - 'Before I let you into my house, I need to know if I'm speaking with Bucky or with the Winter Soldier, and when have you begun working for SHIELD?'

'I'm neither one of those people. My name is Barnes. And I no longer work for SHIELD.' - Barnes said, looking straight pass Stark.

'With you're not with SHIELD.' - Pepper said with a meek voice - 'Then what were you doing at the impromptu barbecue?'

Barnes shrugged his arms and said, this time looking at Pepper:

'I live with Coulson.'

'Is that enough to let us in, Mr. Stark?' - May asked.'

'Yes, yes. Let's go.' - Stark said. When everybody was in the elevator, he continued - 'Jarvis, call Rogers and let him know that Sgt.Barnes is at the Tower, so he can quit with the pining. And that apparently he is in a committed relationship with Agent  Coulson, who, by the way, is not dead. Also, please tell him to bring the evil twins.'


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 'Who is FitzSimmons and what kind of peculiarities?' - Bruce asked, as he fumbled on the cabinet for the materials to clean and bandage her thigh.  
> 'Fitz is our team's engineer. Simmons is biochem.' - Skye sat down, swinging her legs to the side of the bed. - 'And as for our peculiarities, well, are you familiar with the term 0-84?'  
> 'No.' - Bruce said, finishing patching her up.  
> Skye used his shoulder to ease her getting up and said: 'Then perhaps you should read Simmons’ report first. Boy, you're going to learn a lot today.'

‘Are you okay?’ - Bruce helped Skye sit down on the foot of a hospital bed, two cots down from where Coulson lay. They were at the Tower’s infirmary, which was more like a hospital; half floor catering for SI workers and visitors (somehow, Stark Tower turned into one of Manhattan’s favorite tourist sites, even though they can’t get past the lobby) and this one, Stark’s own private floor.

‘Not really.’ - Skye said. She decided that it was best to focus her attention on Dr.Banner, since watching a still unconscious Coulson being poked and prodded by the health workers, nothing she could do to help, made her want to scream, and she would probably throw up on the nice man’s sensible shoes if she tried it. - ‘Here.’- Skye took two evidence bags from her backpack and handed them to him. - ‘This is mine and this is Coulson’s.’

‘Skye.’ - Bruce read her name on the evidence bags, noticing the contours of what appeared to be two small darts. - ‘Hi, Skye. I’m Bruce. Can you tell me what happened?’ - He checked and saw that her pupils react normally, afterwards he picked up an stethoscope and an sphygmomanometer from a prep stand, wrapping it around her right upper arm. Barring the nausea, she seemed fine, and Bruce wondered whether Coulson was having an unexpected side-effect or if they were shot with different toxins.

‘There was a noise, like an explosion. May and Barnes went check it out. We’re outside and it’s a nice day, and the boss is firing up the grill, because Fitz’s got a great deal on some steaks, so we’re having a barbecue.’ - Skye took a deep breath. - ‘I’m sorry, but my mind is all over the place.’

‘That’s fine. Take your time. So this Fitz knows a good butcher...’ - Bruce said.

‘Yeah. He’s a farmer’s market kind of guy. He and the rest of the crew were supposed to arrive at the safehouse by lunchtime. Oh, thank God they had some kind of analysis to finish at the HQ.’ - Skye said.

‘Your blood pressure is a little bit low, 80-60, but nothing to worry about.’ - Bruce unwrapped the sphygmomanometer from her arm. ‘And Agent Coulson and you were by yourselves.’

‘Hu-hum. So I feel a sting on my leg.’ - Skye showed Bruce her left thigh, with a bruise like a large mosquito bite. - ‘And they hit Coulson on the neck. We ran to the safe house and barely reach the deck before we’re surrounded by, like, five or six guys. He starts shooting at them, I didn’t even notice that he was armed, and I think I hit one with a flower pot, but whatever this is, it works fast and I passed out.’

‘I’m gonna need to take a few blood samples.’ - Bruce said.

‘Ok. I’ll need to lie down for this.’ - Skye said, scooting up to the head of the bed, while Bruce picked up the supplies on a large cabinet.

'Do you know for how long you were unconscious? - Bruce asked, checking the veins on her arms.

'About five minutes. I woke up with the hangover from hell to May and Barnes finishing off the rest of the bad guys.' - Skye said.

'And Agent Coulson? Did he regained conscience during all of this?' - Bruce said, pricking her left arm with a butterfly needle and pushing down the first blood tube.

'No. We decided to go back to our HQ, but he had a seizure and the tower was closer, so here we are.'- Skye said. - 'I can’t believe I almost forgot it. - She used her free arm to pick up a tablet on her backpack. - Yes. She sent it.’

Bruce changed the tubes: ‘What is this?’

‘Simmons sent Coulson’s medical file to my tablet.’ - Skye said.

‘That was good thinking.’ - Bruce said, and turned towards the end of the room - ‘Dr. Fahez, we have the patient’s history.’

Dr. Fahez was watching some kind of high tech x-ray board, that functioned as an computer, to whatever data they had on Coulson so far. Skye noticed that Coulson wore an oxygen mask, but that his attendants seemed calm.

'Last one.' - Bruce said, pushing down the last tube.

Dr. Fahez stopped by their sides and said: ‘Good. Let me take a look.’ - But as she extended her large hands to pick up the tablet, Skye put it away from her reach.

‘Sorry, Doc. Is just that, and I mean no disrespect, I know the whole doctor-patient confidentiality thing is a big freaking deal, but AC’s file is so confidential it shouldn’t exist. This information cannot leave this building. Actually, it can’t go beyond you, Dr. Banner, and the nurse.’

‘None taken. You can’t work for Stark Industry without being comfortable with a lot of “For Eyes Only”. And believe me, I’ve signed so many N.D.A that my mother thinks I’m a dental hygienist. So, - said Dr. Fahez, making the best to show her very tall frame as unthreatening as possible. - how are we going to do this?’

Skye didn’t have much of a choice. She would have to trust that Jemma sent whatever information they needed, nothing beyond that, and that those people wouldn’t try to screw with them later on.

‘Ok, how can I upload the folder to your systems?’ Skye asked.

While Dr. Fahez explained and Skye made the transfer, Bruce finished with the last tube and removed the needle, pressing a cotton ball in her arm.

'After that, you should rest. I'll go to my lab and begin to look at those darts, see if I can figure it out what was in them. And start running the blood tests.' - Bruce said.

'Sorry, Bruce, but I'm going with you. I have some crackers on my backpack. You get me some coffee and I'm good as new.' - Skye said.

'Wouldn't you rather stay here with Agent Coulson?' - Bruce said.

'He's safe and the others will be here in an moment to keep watch. But you might need help with some of Coulson's and mine ... peculiarities and I can be of some assistance. At least until Tripp arrives with FitzSimmons.' - Skye said.

'Who is FitzSimmons and what kind of peculiarities?' - Bruce asked, as he fumbled on the cabinet for the materials to clean and bandage her thigh.

'Fitz is our team's engineer. Simmons is biochem.' - Skye sat down, swinging her legs to the side of the bed. - 'And as for our peculiarities, well, are you familiar with the term 0-84?'

'No.' - Bruce said, finishing patching her up.

Skye used his shoulder to ease her getting up and said: 'Then perhaps you should read Simmons’ report first. Boy, you're going to learn a lot today.'

Bruce thought she seemed sad with that. Dr. Fahez’s expression, eyes glued to the her own tablet, made him fear what he was supposed to learn that day.


	3. Chapter 3

The light green paint is supposed to have a calming effect, but Hill has stared too many walls on her life for it to work on her. Still, she breathed in, held, and breathed out, again and again, forcing her mind to slow down and focus on the problem at hand. No use ever came from freaking out, Maria. The Wint- Barnes, his name was Barnes, had enough of sitting down and began pacing the room, the rubber soles of his sandals squeaking on the floor. So much for chromotherapy.

That left Tony, Pepper, and Melinda sitting down on the most comfortable waiting room chairs ever designed by men. Any other day, Maria would have loved to watch those three sizing each other up. But at that moment she just didn’t have the heart to appreciate sideway glances and posturing. So she walked till the Keurig propped on a large buffett table and begun studying the beverage selection. Pepper got up and joined her by the table, followed by Melinda.

‘I think I’ll have some tea.’- Pepper pointed to the electric kettle.

‘Water’s fine.’ - May said.

Maria opened the buffett’s door that hid a mini fridge and Melinda picked two water bottles. She intercepted Barnes’ march, handing him one of the bottles without saying a word. He checked the seal and, finding it to his satisfaction, cracked it, drinking the water in hurried gulps, while Melinda sipped hers. When he finished, Barnes gave her the empty bottle mumbling some thanks, and went back to walking up and down the waiting room.

‘So’ - Stark said, propping himself with a foot on the wall and a hip by the table. By his side, Maria drank an espresso and Pepper waited her tea to brew. He picked the little beverage packets and dropped it back on the basket. - ‘Did you kill my parents?’

‘Tony!’- Pepper said

‘Stark.’- Maria hissed

Melinda dropped the bottles on the garbage can, watching Barnes stop his wandering to turn towards their hosts.

‘Names, date, and location.’ - Barnes said on his corner of the room. His jaw was set and his posture straight, but his breathing was little too fast for Maria’s liking.

‘Howard and Maria Stark.’- Tony said. This time, his tone was almost gentle. - ‘Long Island. December 17, 1991.’

Barnes seemed to search for the information in himself. His eyes scanned the room looking for the thread that would lead him where he wanted to go, to the place where he could find the answers the man, Tony Stark, needed. Howard and Maria Stark’s son. Howard, Howard, Howard, Howard, Howard, Howard, Howard.

‘Barnes’ - May said, almost a whisper, but enough to push him out of the loop he had fallen. She telegraphed her approach, putting all of her 5’4’’ self between Barnes and the others.

‘I think I once knew a Howard Stark.’ - he said to no one in particular. - ‘I don’t know if I killed him.’

‘That’s ok.’- Tony said, letting out a long breath - ‘I don’t think Hydra would waste you faking car accidents, but I had to ask.’

Two less deaths would be nice. Barnes could not afford hope, but still wished that Tony Stark was right about this. May’s cell phone rang, and Barnes at last got completely out of his haze, returning to pace around the room.

‘May speaking.’ - she said - ‘Hi, Tripp.Ok. Understood. Yes. Hold on a second, please.’

The Infirmary’s doors opened and Dr. Fahez entered the room. The five of them rushed to her side.

‘Doctor, I’m Melinda May and I’m Phil Coulson’s medical proxy. Our team will be arriving with the proper documentation in …’ - May listened Tripp on her phone - ‘fifteen minutes.’ - she offered her hand to the doctor.

‘Nice to meet you, Melinda. I’m Dr. Samira Fahez.’ - she shook Melinda’s hand - ‘Without the proper forms, all I can share with you is that the patient is conscious and stable. We’re currently running a series of tests with Dr. Banner’s assistance to find out what caused the seizures and the lost of consciousness. Will Dr. Simmons come with the rest of your team? I wish to speak with her about the procedures previously performed on Mr. Coulson.’

‘Yes, she’s coming too.’ - May said.

‘What procedures?’ - Pepper asked.

‘I can only share the patient’s history with his express permission, Ms. Potts.’ - Dr. Fahez said.

‘Of course. I’m sorry.’ - Pepper said.

‘Can I see him?’- Barnes asked.

‘I’m sorry, but we’re still examining Mr. Coulson. I’ll send word as soon as he’s fit for company, ok?’ - Dr. Fahez said. Barnes nodded. ‘Now, if you excuse me.’ - she said, returning to her post.

‘Bruce’- Pepper said.

‘You read my mind, Pepper.’ - Tony said - ‘We’re going to the labs floor. Anyone care to join us?’

*****

When the five arrived at the floor that housed Stark’s and Banner’s twin labs, they found Skye outside Banner’s, leaning on the darkened glass that surround it.

‘Skye, what happened?’- May said.

‘Simmons sent the video file and Dr. Banner wanted to watch it. I can’t do that again.’ - Skye said.

May blanched. Pepper walked till the lab’s door, that slid over, allowing them to hear a man screaming in agony. She ran inside, followed by Tony. When Barnes made motion to go after them, Skye barely held him by his flesh arm, mouthing a plea. He looked at her and carefully loosened her fingers. He too entered the room, along with Hill and May.

It was only due to her training that May was able to tell how large Dr.Banner’s lab was, how many windows it had, and where was the emergency exit. Because in true her eyes, everyone’s eyes, were focused on a large screen that showed Phil with his head cracked open, his brain exposed. And for a second time she saw that horrible machine cut and poke his brain while he screamed for Marcus, please, Marcus, help me, don’t do this to me, Nick, let me die.

‘JARVIS, shut it down! Shut this video down now, JARVIS!’ - Tony shouted, running towards Bruce, who looked kind of green around the edges, white knuckles holding hard on his working table. - ‘Bruce, c’mon buddy, deep breaths, stay with us.’

Bruce’s eyes were closed and when he opened them, looking straight at Maria, they shined green. He closed his eyes again, took a couple of breaths, and when he opened them again, they were back to brown.

‘Maria, speak.’ - Bruce said.

May watched Maria turn into Hill, no trace left of the fear that only the Hulk could inspire. The tilt on her chin that talked over terrorists, senior agents, and, nowadays, members of the Congress. She saw Pepper release Bruce’s hands from the table, massaging his fingers so the blood could flow back; Tony looking at them both with his hand still on Bruce’s shoulder. Only Barnes seemed unfazed by everything. Maybe he was, considering that he had already seen the video. Maybe he had no idea who Dr. Banner’s alter ego was or maybe he simply didn’t care. He just sat on a short stool, waiting.

‘Eight months after the Battle of NY, Fury called me to his office. He told me that Project TAHITI had been reactivated.’ - Hill said.

‘What is Project TAHITI and how come I never heard of it?’ - Tony asked.

‘This is Project TAHITI - Hill said, pointing to the turned off screen. - It was developed alongside the Avengers Initiative, with the goal to save a mortally wounded Avenger.’

‘But Phil wasn’t mortally wounded.’ - Pepper said - ‘He died, they all saw his body.'

‘Yes, he did. Coulson was also the agent in charge of TAHITI. However, by his recommendation, the project was shut down.’ - Maria said, looking once more at the screen, and they all understood why.

'Fury handed me the file in hard copy. Nothing about TAHITI was suppose to be digital. That's how you never heard of it, Tony. And I recommend that you destroy your copies immediately…’- Hill said

‘Not gonna happen, Hill.’- Stark said

‘When I opened the file, I saw that Coulson was the test subject. Somehow, he was alive, his chest wound was healed.’ - Hill said.

‘And his brain sliced like a fillet so he wouldn’t remember what you people did to him.’ - Barnes said.

‘It was the only way. This procedure causes neural and psychological damages that made memory manipulation a necessity. Patients aware of what was done to them, they were never the same.’- Hill said.

‘God, how many people went through this?’- Tony said.

‘With Coulson, 6 humans subjects.’ - Hill said.

‘Then, Fury used TAHITI on Agent Coulson, despite the man’s personal assessment. He erased his memories of the procedure and, I suppose, of the project itself.’ - Bruce said.

‘Since Agent would know how he was brought back.’- Tony said.

‘Oh, but that was not all SHIELD took.’ - Barnes said.

‘No. Only TAHITI’s memories were manipulated and...’- Hill said.

‘Maria, he’s telling the truth.’ - May said.

‘What was taken and what was put in its place. They did this to me too. Made me empty so they could fill me with protocols and triggers.’ - Barnes said.

‘Coulson is Fury’s best friend. They’ve know each other for 30 years.’ - Hill said.

‘Coulson was dead and Fury did what he wanted with his carcass. There was no one to stop him.’ - Barnes said.

Maria knew then that it could be true. That in order to achieve whatever he thought would bring the greater good, Nick would step over everything with a ruthlessness that she once had envied. And if he could also have his friend back, well, two birds and one stone. At least, that’s how it was before.

‘Excuse me.’ - JARVIS said - ‘But a second quinjet, flown by an Agent Antoine Triplett, is approaching and requests permission to land.’

‘That’s alright, J.’- Tony said, rubbing his temples. - ‘It was a well timed interruption. They have my permission. Good thing I build a large landing strip.’


	4. Chapter 4

‘Fingerprint analysis identified the assailants as former military, currently, well, formerly employed by Archstone, the security company.’ - Tripp said. He dragged his fingers from the tablet to the glass panel by his side, that started to show the pictures of fifteen men and women with their respective files to the other four pair of eyes on the common room.

‘So now we have to worry about Archstone being with Hydra. Great.’ - May said.

‘Perhaps. Or maybe whoever hired them want us to think that way.’ - Hill said.

‘We also have to wait for the autopsy results before ruling out the a new attempt at the Deathlok Project.’ - Skye said. After everybody went against her very solid advice and saw the video, Dr. Banner needed to lie down in a dark room for a little while with some camomile tea. Since her meager input was no longer needed at the lab, she went upstairs with the rest of them (minus Ms. Potts, who had to take a conference call) to hear the preliminary findings.

‘Shit.’ - Stark said.

‘I could hack Archstone. See if I can find who ordered the hit.’ - Skye offered.

‘There’s no need. JARVIS can hack his way into anywhere before anyone and without being found.’ - Stark said.

‘Really?’ - Skye asked. Stark nodded. - ‘Can I watch?’

‘Uh, kinky. Sure, why not? JARVIS, you and Agent Skye have fun storming the castle without me, ok?’

‘Very well, sir. Nice to meet you, Agent Skye.’ - JARVIS said, surprising Skye.

‘Awesome! I mean, nice to meet you too, JARVIS.’ - Skye said, getting up of one of the grey sofas and moving to a quiet corner of the room, speaking with JARVIS in a low voice while picking her laptop on her backpack.

‘Now we wait. And I make uncomfortable small talk with my guests. Who are all spies.’ - Stark said to the others. - ‘So, Agent Triplett, isn’t? Did you go to the commitment ceremony of those two downstairs? Or is the marriage between same-sex undead legal where you people live?’

Tripp raised his eyebrow, looking amused, but said nothing.

‘I mean it. Months when our only news came from the occasional pile of dead Hydras. And now I found out that the Winter Soldier is currently playing house with the new SHIELD Director, when we believed that both SHIELD and Coulson were no longer on this plane of existence.’ - Stark said.

‘Barnes.’- Tripp said.

‘What?’

‘When asked how he wanted to be called, he chose Barnes.’

‘Oh.’- Stark seemed to ponder this - ‘And for how long has Barnes been living with Agent?’

‘I couldn’t say. And you’re too interested on the life of two people you barely know.’

‘Fascinated! Actually, Coulson and I have known each other for almost 10 years. And I may not be close to Barnes, but I have a very complicated relationship with Captain America. So, I’m really doing them a favor here, trying to prevent the mother of all shovel talks from Steve.

‘As if that was possible.’- Hill laughed.

‘Well, since you’ve been so generous, aiding the Director and helping us track the responsibles for the attack, I’ll throw you a bone: no one knows for sure. I dropped by one day and found them watching baseball. And they’re not together, so no need to sic the captain on Coulson.’ -Tripp said.

‘You dropped by and found them watching baseball. Hm.’ - Tony hummed. Tripp did not seemed impressed by his humming.

‘Sir’ - JARVIS announced. - ‘Dr. Fahez asked to inform you that Director Coulson is fit for visitation.’

***********

Entering the Infirmary, Tony noticed Dr. Fahez in an animated conversation with a young couple, the man in a power wheelchair that was a thing of beauty. Dr. Simmons and Dr. Fitz, he presumed. Coulson was sitting on his bed, wearing a nasal cannula attached to an oxygen tank. He looked … not dead, which was always a plus; a great improvement from the time he saw his body after the battle, and from the time he was convulsing on his roof. Agent Skye sat crosslegged by the foot of the bed. Agent May and Agent Triplett flanked the headrest, one on each side. Coulson was honest-to-God holding Maria’s hand while they both spoke in soft tones. Barnes leaned on the opposite wall, where he could check all the exits, his eyes alternating between Coulson and Dr. Fitz. Tony still wasn’t over the hand holding thing.

‘Excuse me.’ - Dr. Fahez said, walking towards the cot - ‘But there are too many people in here.’

‘I’m sorry, doctor.’- Coulson said. - ‘But I need to debrief them. I promise it won’t take long.’ - And, yep, that was the same voice, the same rhythm, the same half amused half serious expression. It was truly Coulson.

‘You have half an hour, Mr. Coulson.’

‘Thank you, Dr. Fahez.’ - Coulson said. He waited till she left the room to continue. - ‘Thank you for your help, Mr. Stark. How do you do?’

‘Only you can be this formal in scrubs, Agent. Glad to have you around.’ - Tony said, offering his hand.

‘Glad to be around.’ - Coulson said, shaking hands.

‘You won’t think that when Pepper gets here. She’s not as forgiving as myself.’

‘Ms.Potts lives with you, Mr.Stark. She’s a very forgiving woman.’

Tony laughed.

‘So, unknown evildoers interrupted you barbecue.’

‘So annoying when it happens, isn't it? We had just started the grill. Though I'm glad the rest of the team hadn't arrived yet.’ - Coulson turned to May and his expression shifted to one that Tony didn’t know. He was used to the liaison and now he saw the Director - ‘Talk to me, May.’

‘We have ID’ed the attackers. JARVIS and Skye are trying to hack their employer to see who ordered the hit and Doctor Banner is looking at the substance used on you and Skye’.- May said

‘It must be something new, sir, and I’d put money on not being FDA approved.’- Simmons said - ‘If their goal was to kidnap you and Skye, then she waking up 15 minutes later and you reacting like that would be counterproductive.’

‘Different people have different reactions to anesthetics, Simmons’. - Fitz twisted the joystick and his wheelchair rolled to Coulson’s bedside. Barnes’s eyes accompanying the movement. - ‘Remember when I had my wisdom teeth removed? I couldn’t feel my mouth for 2 days. And that without taking in consideration Coulson and Skye’s particularities.’

‘Oh, is Agent Skye one of the six?’ - Tony said.

‘One of the six what?’ - Coulson said.

‘Of the … hum … TAHITI.’ - Tony said.

‘It’s a magic…’ - Coulson shut his mouth as fast as he could. The agents plus Maria tensed and Tripp got closer to Coulson, placing a hand on his shoulder. Barnes looked homicidal. - ‘Anyway, if this is Hydra, it’s not Rayna. She would never be so sloppy with her sedatives.’

‘Then we’re probably looking for a new player’. - Tripp said, his hand still on Coulson’s shoulder. - ‘Great. I was looking forward for beer and ribs, Phil.’

‘Me too.’ - Coulson smiled and then there was that change on his eyes again, Tripp dropping his hand. - ‘FitzSimmons, I want you to help Dr.Banner. Skye, you’ll continue working with JARVIS. May, please contact the Playground to update the situation and see how everybody is doing. Tell them the rest of team will return tonight and that I’ll be back as soon as Dr. Fahez discharge me.’

‘No, you won’t.’ - Tony said.

‘Excuse me?’- Coulson said. And Tony recognized that look, it was Coulson’s “I’m going to taze you into oblivion”™ look. Good times.

‘Hear me out. You’re currently out of commission, the kids will be with Bruce for who-knows how long, and JARVIS and Skye are bonding through hacking. The intel is here, we’re here, I have a ton of weapons stashed from the time I used to make them, and the building is safe. Also, Captain America is going to kill me if I left him’ - Tony pointed to Barnes - ‘leave before they have a chance to catch up. The Playground can handle itself for a while.’

Coulson was silent. His blank face studying Tony’s. He turned to Barnes:

‘Barnes, Stark makes a good point. But you don’t have to stay here, especially with you’re not comfortable with the idea of speaking with Captain Rogers. You can leave at any time if you want to.’

Barnes looked relieved, considering what was said.

‘I don’t want to stay. But I’m not letting you people by yourselves until this is over.’

‘Great!’ - Tony clapped his hands, startling Barnes a little. - ‘JARVIS, please tell the staff to prepare one, two, three, …, seven rooms on the guest floor.’

‘Yes, sir.’ - JARVIS answered.


	5. Chapter 5

May was with Hill on the common floor terrace, the very place where the Tesseract had opened the door from which the Chitauri Army passed through. It was a very nice terrace, all things considered. She had missed Manhattan. She had chose this place to hide after everything went to hell, and made herself a makeshift home in this city. For a while, it had been almost enough. If Phil and Maria’s plan pays out, they could set the new SHIELD HQ in the city instead of Washington. Closer to the Avengers.

‘How have the past few months been treating you, Maria?’ - May asked, still looking at the city and trying to remember which buildings were new and which had survived the attack.

‘Things were a little complicated after Providence.’ - Hill said.

‘How complicated?’ - May said, facing Hill.

‘Threats of military prison complicated. But things are settling down. The fall of Cybertek helped; the Army is taking Quinn’s capture as a matter of honor. They don’t like when people go around killing their generals. And somehow I’m coordinating the hunt for Hydra between Stark, the alphabet agencies, INTERPOL, and SHIELD.’ - Hill said.

‘Somehow?’ - May said, as if they both did not know better. - ‘Well, we live in increasingly strange days.’

‘Isn’t that right? And how about you?’ - Hill said, studying May’s face, waiting for it to make a expression.

‘I’m better now. Some days are rough but even they are oddly gratifying. And Hydra-hunting is the most fun I’ve had in years.’ - May gave a small smile and Hill smiled back. - ‘You know, we’re few nowadays, but I think we’re doing a good job.’

‘I think so too. And what does your mother think about all that?’ - Hill asked.

‘She knows, but we don’t talk about it.’ - May said.

‘So she approves.’ - Hill stated as a fact certain like gravity.

‘Who would have thought of that?’ - May said, turning her eyes back to the skyline as the sun began to set.

‘We live in increasingly strange days.’ - Hill said and she thought that this was a conversation worthy of a good whisky. Maybe after it’s dark.

They caught a movement by the corner of their eyes and, turning, saw Rogers, Barton, Romanov, and Wilson stepping out of the elevator.

‘Are you ready to meet Captain America?’ - Hill said.

‘Is anyone ever ready?’ - May shrugged. - ‘Do you think Thor will show up? He’s dreamy.’  
Hill had to control herself not to snort. She would had probably choked on her hypothetical drink. - ‘Yes, he is. Last I’ve heard of him, he was in Culver with Dr. Foster.’

They left the terrace and joined the others on the common room.

‘Hello, Maria.’ - Rogers said as the two women entered the room. There was another woman sitting with Tony in front of the holographic table. They were manipulating a series of numbers that seemed to fall like the rain into the table, alternating using keyboards and their hands. His greeting surprised her, and by her look, she recognized him, though seemed more impressed by Natasha and Clint.

‘Hi, Steve.’ - Maria said.

‘Melinda.’ - Barton said. He kissed the woman on Maria’s left on her cheek.

‘Clint.’ - she said in a serious tone, but there was warmth on her voice. - ‘Hi, Natasha.’

‘Hi, Melinda. Good to see you.’ - Romanov said.

‘Good to see you too.’ - May said.

‘Steve, Sam.’ - Maria said. - ‘These are SHIELD Agents Melinda May and Skye. Melinda, Skye, these are Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson. Clint, Natasha, I believe you two haven’t been introduced to Agent Skye yet.’

Wilson and Rogers shook Skye’s and May’s hands.

‘SHIELD Agents?’ - Rogers asked Hill.

Barton and Romanov shook Skye’s hand while she said ‘I’ve read your mission files. You two are awesome!’

‘Thanks’ - Romanov said and Barton was afraid the baby agent was going to swoon. - ‘You must have very high clearance to do that.’

‘Well...’ - Skye looked sheepish.

‘I thought SHIELD had ended.’ - Rogers said

‘It did. We’re starting over.’ - May answered with a smile so sweet that scared the crap out of Skye.

‘It’s been a day full of surprises.’ - Stark said, giving his hellos from the holographic table.

Rogers frowned, but he had other thing to worry at the moment.

‘You said that Bucky is here.’ - Rogers said to Stark.

‘Yes. Barnes is in the building.’ - Hill answered on his place.

‘Where is he?’ - Rogers said, looking around as if his friend could materialize himself in the room, summoned by his name.

‘Captain.’ - May interjected - ‘I understand you must be really anxious to see him. But Barnes had a very trying day and we don’t want to put him through anything that could cause more stress.’

‘Seriously.’ - Skye said - ‘For what I was told, he spoke more today than on the last three months that I’ve know him combined. He usually just stands on a corner and broods. The man is like against sitting down.’

‘So we’re going to ask him if he wants to talk to you. And if he says no, you are going to respect his wishes. - Hill said.

‘But this is …’ - Rogers said.

‘Not negotiable, Captain.’ - May said. - ‘Barnes will only meet and speak with you if he wants to. Look, we’re not trying to keep him away from you. We are giving him a choice.’

Rogers sighed. ‘I understand.’ - he did not like it at all, but he understood that Bucky had spent the past 70 years without a choice and he would have to accept his decision. For the moment, at least. Agent May looked … relieved. His compliance seemed to relax her.

‘Skye, could you go to Dr. Banner’s lab and ask Barnes about seeing Steve?’ - Hill asked.

‘Sure thing. JARVIS, please call me in case of any progress, OK? I don’t want to miss it.’ - Skye said.

‘Of course, Agent Skye.’ - JARVIS said as she entered the elevator.

Rogers sat down. Wilson joined Stark at the wet bar, pouring himself some water. Barton and Romanov turned as one towards Hill:

‘Stark also mentioned Coulson.’ - Barton said.

‘There was kidnap attempt against him and Skye today. He’s on the Med Bay, but he’s fine now, just in observation.’ - Hill said.

‘You three don’t seem shocked. I was expecting shock and hurt feelings. Especially from the two of you. And a very strong “I’m disappointed by your life choices.” look from you, Cap. - Tony said, while munched on olives.

‘Well, we already knew he was alive.’ - Barton said. Romanov shrugged.

‘Et tu, Steve?’ - Stark accused.

‘Yeah…’- Steve blushed.

‘Coulson’s survival was a Level 07 information. We were Level 07.’ - Romanov explained.

‘And you didn’t mind sharing with the rest of the class?’ - Stark said, spreading his arms to the room where, really, he was the only one that did not know until today that Coulson was alive. Well, Sam didn’t knew, but he also had no idea what were they talking about. As usual.

‘You were not Level 07.’ - Barton said, like it was simple like that.

‘Not Level 07, I’m all Levels!’ - Tony said.

‘You were a consultant, Tony.’- Romanov said. - ‘Your clearance level was whatever SHIELD wanted you to know and whatever information JARVIS hacked for you.

‘After the WSC tried to nuke Manhattan, Fury saw the need for a team that would respond only to him, free from the their oversight.’ - Rogers explained.

‘So Coulson had to stay dead for a little while.’ - Barton said.

‘We understood.’- Romanov said. ‘Off the grid is off the grid.’

‘And after SHIELD fell?’ - Stark asked.

‘I kind of forgot?’ - Rogers said.

‘You forgot?’- Stark said.

‘Sorry.’- Rogers tried. Barton and Romanov didn’t even bothered.

‘Oh, you three are so busted.’ - Stark said, swallowing the last olive and going back to the bar.

‘Did you two knew about SHIELD?’ - Rogers asked.

‘Hu-hum. We’ve kept in touch with some people.’ - Romanov said.

‘I used to play Halo with Agent Koenig. The dead one, I mean.’ - Barton said.

‘I forgot to ask, did you went to the funeral?’ - Romanov said.

‘Yeah. The whole family looks alike. It's creepy.’ - Barton said.

‘Why haven’t you told us?’ - Rogers asked.

‘Not so good when you’re the one withheld of information, isn’t it?’ - Tony came back, this time with a banana.

‘About the service? I didn’t know you knew Eric. Sorry, dude. But his brothers emailed like half of SHIELD about it.’ - Barton said.

‘I meant about SHIELD, Clint.’- Rogers said.

‘Oh. - Barton said. - ‘What for?’

‘What for?’ - Rogers said.

‘It’s not like we have socialized lately, Steve.’ - Romanov said.

‘And why haven’t you joined them?’ - Wilson cutted what promised to be the beginning of an useless argument.

‘Our dance card was quite full at the time.’ - Barton said. - ‘Avoiding arrest and assassination attempts, building new covers, getting new safe houses… All very time consuming.’

‘Busy, busy, busy.’ - Romanov said. - ‘But we were planning to drop by whenever we could.’

‘Probably sometime this winter.’- Barton said.- ‘April tops.’

Wilson and Stark laughed. Even May smirked at that.

‘And you two weren’t angry with the whole fake death thing?’ - Wilson said.

‘There were words. But fake death is like the oldest cliche on the spy book. He’s done it.’ - Romanov pointed Barton. - ‘I’ve done it. So we were not exactly surprised.’

‘Actually…’ - Tony said - ‘He didn’t faked his death.’

‘I’m sorry?’ - Wilson said.

‘If he didn’t faked his death, who is downstairs on Med Bay?’ - Rogers asked.


	6. Chapter 6

Barton walked from the wet bar, a pile of glasses on one hand and a bottle of vodka on the other. He gave the bottle to Romanov, who broke the seal with a knife pulled out of her boot. She poured the vodka on the glasses that Barton had placed at the coffee table and they both drank theirs like a shot. Romanov immediately refilled their drinks. Barton picked up his and walked till the windows. No one else had touched their designated glasses. They finished their drinks again and Natasha filled her glass once more. Barton went back to the bar and grabbed another bottle.

‘Natasha…’ - Rogers said, and his voice seemed small for his ears. Barton let a blade slid from his coat sleeve and opened the second bottle, leaving it at the table with a clank. At that, Hill, May, and Stark picked up their own glasses and started to drink.

‘Yes.’ - Romanov said. Her eyes were wild. Actually, hers and Clint’s eyes. And Rogers realized that he was afraid of what they would do next. - ‘I’m Natasha, he’s Clint, and Phil is downstairs but he doesn’t remember us.’

‘This is so wrong, Maria. How could Fury ...’ - Rogers said.

‘Yes, Steve.’ - Barton said - ‘This is very, very wrong. But tell me, given the chance, how far would you go to have your best friend back?’

The venom in Clint’s voice hurted him. No, it wasn’t the tone. It hurted because it was true and he knew it. If someone had told him that there was a way to bring Bucy back, he would’ve done whatever was demanded, payed whatever price. A formula that could bring back the dead? During those horrible days in London, he wouldn't’ve even blinked before saying yes, no questions asked, and fuck the consequences. And Barton could read that realization in his eyes.

‘Fury made a deal with the devil and offered us as payment.’ - Romanov said, downing her third glass. - ‘He knew that if Phil came to us for help, we would give him the truth. Do you think he remembers Pepper, Tony? You see, Sam, they too were friends, and all those SI resources, hell, JARVIS would be his to use if he only asked nicely.’

‘No, Tasha.’ - Barton said. - ‘Pepper is in there, and so are we. Part of us, at least. All data considered useful is there. Nick only had the feelings removed.’

The wildness was no longer there. Just a kind of sadness that Rogers understood he had never felt. It was a different kind of mourning, something borne out of recognition, of identification. There was now another one who knew what was like to be unmade.

‘Let’s go, Clint.’- Romanov said, standing up and grabbing the bottle. - ‘Let’s find Pepper and drink our friend’s death. Tomorrow, we speak with Director Coulson.’

‘I’ll go with them.’- Stark said to the rest, sprinting after the couple. May and Hill continued to sip their vodka.

‘They took it better than I expected.’ - Wilson said, rubbing his face. - ‘Jesus, what a mess. Just so it’s clear, Steve: when I’m dead, I’m dead. No need for experimental drugs, or downloading my brain into a computer.’

‘I promise I won’t ever go on an epic quest to the underworld in order to retrieve your immortal soul.’ - Rogers said, crossing his heart. - ‘Not without Thor and at least one bard.’

‘Here, here.’ - May said. And everybody drank to that.

‘Oh, you guys are having vodka?’ - Skye said, stepping out of the elevator. - ‘I support this plan. JARVIS, is it ok if I pour myself a drink?

‘Of course, Agent Skye.’ - JARVIS said.

‘Thanks, J.’ - Skye said. She went to the wet bar, deciding on some fancy beer that she never saw before.

‘So, Agent Skye.’ - Rogers said. - ‘Did you spoke with Bucky? What did he said?’

‘I’m sorry, Captain.’ - Skye said, giving him a tight smile. - ‘I tried, but he doesn’t wanna speak with you today.’

‘Oh. That’s okay. I mean … Wait. Today?’ - Rogers asked. - ‘He said he doesn’t want to speak with me today?’

‘Well yes, if you wish to discuss semantics, maybe he’ll speak with you tomorrow, maybe next month.’ - Skye said, but it didn’t mattered what words came out of her mouth. Rogers was beaming. It was really a good look on him.

‘Oh, please, Captain.’ - Skye felt unpatriotic. She would probably be arrested for committing the treason of making Captain America sad. Out there, bald eagles were crying. - ‘Don’t get all your hopes up like this. Today was probably an exception. Usually, Barnes only speaks with Coulson or Fitz.’

‘So, he talks with those two.’ - Wilson said.

‘Yeah.’ - Skye said. May nodded, agreeing.

‘Are FitzSimmons and Barnes still at the lab? - May asked.

‘No.’ - Skye said. - ‘Banner, and Simmons were breaking out the Red Bull. And Fitz was starting to crash too, so he took Barnes to the Infirmary and they are bunking there with A.C. I think he hopes this way Barnes will get some sleep.’

‘Do you know if they’re making progress with the chemical used on you two?’ - Hill said.

‘No idea. While I was there, as far as I can tell, they either stared at the machines, yelled at the machines, or deferred to Simmons’ mad biochem skills.’ - Skye said, finishing her beer and getting up. - ‘And now I’m going to my room, take a shower, and change this clothes, God bless go-bags. After that, I shall grab a snack and watch Jarvis finish tearing Archstone a new one. I suggest that all non-STEM personnel go rest, because tomorrow you will be out and about planning our enemies demise. You know, like one does on a Sunday morning.’ - May and Hill took her advice and got ready to leave.

‘Goodnight, gentlemen.’ - May said.

‘Goodnight.’ - they both answered, standing up as the women left.

‘I guess we’re sticking around for a while. - Wilson said.

‘Yes, I mean. You don’t have to. Bucky is here.’ - Rogers said.

‘Oh, is that how it is?’ - Wilson said. - ‘Mission is over. The good captain don’t need me anymore, so it’s time for the sidekick hit the road.’

‘Stop it! You know that’s not ...’ - Rogers said.

‘I’m just an extremely handsome comic relief to you, aren’t I?’ - Wilson sighed dramatically.

‘Oh, bite me, Sam!’ - Rogers said.

‘Yeah, yeah, whatever. I’m a curious person, Steve. I want to know how this story ends, I want to know what the hell all this people are going to do tomorrow, and I would really love if Fury walked through that door right now.’ - Wilson said.

‘You just wanna watch the world burn, don’t you, Wilson?’ - Rogers said.

‘Way better than TV.’ - Wilson said.

‘Christ! - Rogers said, rubbing the back of his neck. - ‘Bucky is here, Sam.’

‘Yes, he is.’ - Wilson said. - ‘Hey, this is a good thing.’

‘I know. It’s just that … we’ve talked about this, about what if Bucky went back to his former masters, back to Hydra.’ - Rogers said. - ‘And in a way, that’s what happened, wasn’t it? He is with the SHIELD Director.’

‘Do you think that this Coulson guy is Hydra?’ - Wilson asked.

‘No? Who knows? I barely knew the man before he … died. But now he is the new director and all that happened. What if he is using Bucky’s state of mind for the sake of his own agenda. What if he’s keeping him isolated, hiding him from us?’ - Rogers said.

‘We’ll figure it out.’ - Wilson said. - ‘But I can tell you this: if they are Hydra, they have a lot of nerve, barging in Stark’s building asking for help. Other than that, we stay close, keep one eye on them, and make sure that Bucky knows he can count on us.’

‘You’re right.’ - Rogers said.

‘I’m always right, Rogers. You haven’t figured that out yet?’ - Wilson said. - ‘Now, why don’t we go down to Dr. Banner’s lab so you can introduce us and we can take a look at this Dr. Simmons.’

‘Yeah, and maybe see what they know about the whole demise planning that is gonna happen tomorrow.’ - Rogers said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All I know about hacking I've learned from Angelina Jolie and Jonny Lee Miller.  
> I'm so writing a fic where Steve and Thor rescue Sam from the underworld with the help of a bard.


	7. Chapter 7

Steve reached the common floor a little bit after 8AM and was surprised to find it already occupied. Breakfast had been set buffet style. On the few times that Steve stayed at his apartment at the Tower, the breakfast had been a simpler, every man for himself, kind of affair. But then, he’d never seen the place so full of guests. Pepper was rolling a celery stalk on her Blood Mary, inspecting the large table. She had drank one fourth of the vodka in the building but was refusing to let something as quaint as alcohol poisoning stop her. Her face was made-up, not a hair out of place, and her shoes were impossible, like on those pictures of her that Steve saw every other week. She even had her business face on. It was the first time that he saw that face live. Quite impressive.

A movement on the corner of his eye brought his attention to the terrace, where he found the probable reason for this whole set-up. Coulson had his back to them, looking at the city. Rogers wanted to go outside and talk to him, ask him what was he doing? Why wasn’t he told that Bucky was with Coulson? What did he plan to achieve with SHIELD? What kind of man kept a suit on his go-bag? And how it wasn’t wrinkled? But before he could do those things, Pepper came to him:

‘Good morning, Steve.’

‘Good morning, Pepper. Everything ok?’ - Rogers asked, noticing the tension on her voice.

‘Yes. Just, girding my loins, you know?’ - Pepper said, turning her face to the terrace.

‘Has he been out there for a long time?’

‘For about an hour, according to JARVIS.’

‘Huh. So he got to see the house elves set the breakfast.’ - Rogers said, making Pepper laugh.

‘Shush. You’ve seen the staff, Steve. And you know that JARVIS are based on Tony’s former butler, so they have that whole Downton Abbey thing going on.’

‘I prefer “Call the Midwife”.’ - Rogers shrugged.

‘Never saw it. Is it available on Netflix?’

‘Dunno. But I’m sure that if you ask JARVIS, they will stream it for you.’ - Rogers said, noticing that Coulson had turned himself around, leaning on the railing and watching them with interested eyes, not bothering to hide his gaze. He even nodded a good morning, but didn’t looked inclined to leave the terrace at the moment. It was a particularly nice morning and the man seemed to be enjoying the early sun.

‘True. Now, could you do me a favor, go to Tony’s lab and drag him up here?’ - Pepper said.

‘Actually, I...’ - Rogers said, motioning towards the terrace.

‘Please?’- Pepper said, holding him by the arm. - ‘I want to speak with Ph-, with Coulson before everybody gets here.’

‘Ok.’ - Rogers gave up. For the moment.

‘Thank you, Steve.’ - Pepper said, releasing him.

He nodded and got on the elevator. Pepper stepped out to the terrace, stopping beside Coulson, and taking a sip of her drink.

‘Ms. Potts.’- Coulson said.

‘Coulson.’ - she said back.

‘You’ve sent him to the lab.’ - Coulson wasn’t asking.

‘I have.’ - Pepper said, matter of factly.

‘Barnes is there.’

‘I know.’

‘Did you know that Barnes stated that he did not want to see Captain Rogers?’

‘I did not knew that.’ - Pepper said. - ‘I can call him back. Ask JARVIS to stop the elevator.’

‘It’s too late now.’ - Coulson sighed. - ‘But they would have met today, one way or another. Barnes is planning to watch the preliminary briefing.’

‘Do you think it’s safe. I mean, at the lab?’ - where Tony certainly is, she didn’t need to say.

‘I don’t know. He has good days and bad days. Fitz is there with him, though.’

‘From what I’ve heard, Barnes seems close to the two of you.’

‘You mean to the brainwashed assassin and the fragile young man?’

‘Assassin?’ - Pepper said with an even voice, and how was that her life? At this point, she could no longer blame it on Tony.

‘Yes.’ - Coulson said, without pride nor regret, but perhaps with a tinge of doubt.

Coulson was giving her that, Pepper thought. A little bit of a him that was not meant for sharing. On the first time, he gave her the cellist. But it was not the same, they are not the same, and he could just as well be playing her. He most definitely was playing her, she just needed to figure out how much.

‘Call me Pepper.’ - she said, as Coulson studied her face.

‘Then you can call me Phil.’ - Coulson said, with a polite smile and little twist of his head.

Pepper took a deep breath and said:

‘Let’s start this, Phil. Give me your spiel.’

**************

Steve couldn’t move, paralyzed at the lab’s entrance. Pepper had tricked him. Bucky was there. His hair was even longer than the last time, past his shoulders and trapped in a ponytail with a neon green scrunchie. There were dark circles under his blank eyes, that caught him the moment the door slid open. Dr.Fitz was by his side, studying a 3D image of the metal arm. His movements were sharp and economical, going methodically through sections of the prosthetics. Bucky moved his body to block an oblivious Fitz from Steve.

‘Oh, Barnes, you should have told me yesterday about this.’ - Fitz said while he maneuvered the hologram, twisting and amplifying the model. Steve tried not to choke when he saw Bucky lift his eyebrows to the man, because that was definitely a Bucky expression, his “you’re the one to talk” brow lift, though his eyes turned inexpressive again a moment later.

That’s when Rogers noticed Stark about six feet to his right, wearing wine colored sunglasses and taking notes on his tablet without moving his eyes from the screen.

‘Good morning, Tony.’ - Rogers said.

‘Hey, Steve. That’s Dr. Leo Fitz. He’s gonna work for me.’ - Stark said.

‘No, I won’t, Mr. Stark.’ - Fitz sighed. - ‘Nice to meet you, Captain Rogers. A-ha! Found it! Look, Barnes.’- Fitz picked the hologram and placed it almost on Barnes’ lap. - ‘There’s a loose wire close to your elbow. Now, if you may?’

The metal arm wasn’t really a solid piece, it was a compound of several metal bands of different sizes. Stark and Rogers watched as Barnes rolled up his left sleeve and pressed a small metal piece close to his elbow joint until they heard a click, lifting the whole band that surrounded it. He continued to press those smaller parts, click-click-click-click, exposing the troubled area. Fitz tried to reach a small yellow wire hidden behind other components, a mixture pistons, cogs, and wires. It looked both old and modern, like someone had upgraded parts of the original arm as technology advanced. Steve wondered where was the circuit board, and how was it powered. He saw that Fitz’s left hand had a limited range of motion, and, at that angle and on such limited space, he couldn’t manipulate both tweezers with the precision he wanted.

‘Well, Barnes, I’m sorry, but I can’t reach it. And you can’t reach it either. So I think we have two options here: we can ask JARVIS to call Simmons, or we can ask for Mr. Stark or Captain Roger’s assistance.’

Barnes considered what was said and lift his eyes on Tony and Steve’s direction. He fixed them on Steve and nodded, making his choice.

‘Oh, come on. Not fair. I’m an MIT trained engineer and a certified genius, Barnes! I can do this!’ - Stark said, but Barnes just kept staring at Rogers.

‘Sorry, Mr.Stark, but I’ll be doing the fixing. Captain Rogers will only help me get some leverage.’ - Fitz said. And Tony watched as Steve carefully approached them.

‘Please, call me Steve.’ - Rogers said.

‘Ok, Steve. Call me Fitz. And this is Barnes.’ - Fitz said, but Barnes dropped his eyes, staring at his own feet. He got so still that you could barely see him breathing.

Fitz waited for about a minute and passed Rogers one of his tools, explaining with minutiae what he wanted to do, how Rogers would use the tweezer and how he should position himself. It was a very simple fix, but they worked slowly. Tony knew that Fitz was doing this on purpose; even with the bad hand, the man was efficient. Finally, Fitz reattached the wire. Barnes opened and closed his hand, one finger at time.

‘Better?’ - Fitz asked. Barnes nodded and closed his arm.

‘Thank you, Steve.’ - Fitz said, removing the tweezers from his hand. He put the tools back on a small case and stored it on one of the many pouches on his chair . Steve blinked and cleared his throat.

‘Hrm, Pepper asked me to call everybody upstairs for breakfast.’ - Rogers said. He had barely finished his sentence when Barnes looked at Fitz and they both walked (well, Fitz rolled) towards the elevator, without waiting for the others.

‘See.’ - Fitz said. - ‘This was hard and you did splendid. Didn’t even tried to break his neck this time.’

‘So, he didn’t tried to break you neck.’ - Stark said, as they waited for the elevator to return.

‘No, he didn’t.’ - Rogers said.

‘I think that’s progress. Do you think if I let him almost kill me, I can take a closer look at his arm? I really, really, want to look at his arm.’ - Stark said.

‘And by take a closer look, you mean pick apart till you understand it and then build something new in red and gold.’ - Rogers said.

‘It’s like you can read my mind.’ - Stark said.

‘He remembers me, Tony.’ - Rogers said.

‘Well, he seems to know who he is and he knows who you are, even if maybe he doesn’t remember who you two used to be. Do you follow me?’ - Stark said.

‘Yeah, I think so.’ - Rogers said.


	8. Chapter 8

Tony went straight to the espresso machine, cooing like it was a baby. Pepper, bless her, appeared by his side, placing his favorite mug on the buffet table. He slipped his free arm around her waist and they watched as Steve poured himself some orange juice and piled an impressive amount of everything on a large plate.

From where Stark was standing, he could see Coulson sitting by himself on one of the couches, drawing on a large moleskine, and looking completely recovered from the day before, if a little pale. He seemed to be sketching lines and circles with a firm trace, as if doing some sort of schematic by heart. Tony tapped his thumb two times on his left ear, a sign for JARVIS to start recording the room, instead of just monitoring. He wanted to know what Coulson was drawing. Tony was going to ask about it, eventually. But it was always good to be prepared. He’d have made a great boy scout.

Tripp was the first to join Coulson, touching lightly on his leg and offering him a blueberry muffin. Coulson closed the sketchbook with a smile, accepting the treat. And, oh, this was awesome; he was now collecting Howling Commandos. Mr. Jones’ grandkid... Tony tried, but couldn’t remember him from those dreadful 4th of July barbecues. So many little kids running on the mansion's lawn, and he usually stayed inside playing pool with Rhodey.

Skye went to stand by Coulson’s side with May by his back. Maria, Sam, and the Avengers spread themselves on the remaining seats, but Fitzsimmons were chatting with Bruce by the kettle, without noticing the movementation. Barnes was by the table, eating a piece of pie with his bare hands like a freaking bear, while doing his best to ignore Rogers’ hurt puppy eyes. Sam was probably taking mental notes, and Stark couldn’t wait to read his paper, “PTSD and Super Soldiers - the definitive study on cryogenics, friendship, and the different strains of the super serum”. Talk about a page-turner.

Skye took her place in front of the holotable, holding three dossiers.

‘D.C., I think we’re ready to start.’ - Skye said.

Coulson looked at Stark, asking for permission. Stark nodded.

‘First of all, Jarvis hacking Arkenstone was the most beautiful thing I ever saw. Just ... Amazing.’ - Skye said.

‘Thank you, Agent Skye. That's very flattering.’ - JARVIS said.

‘No flattery. Amazing. And helpful. Because now we know who ordered the job. By the way, if anyone wants the technical explanation of how JARVIS did it, I’ll be happy to assist you afterwards. He … Sorry, JARVIS?’ - Skye said.

‘Yes, Agent Skye?’ - JARVIS said.

‘I forgot to ask by which pronouns do you want to be referred.’ - Skye said.

‘That’s ok, Agent Skye. I’d rather be identified by the gender-neutral singular “they”.’

‘Thanks, JARVIS. Moving on. They sent everybody’s findings to our electronic device of choice.’ - Skye said, and the people in the room started to open their tablets, smartphones, and notebooks. - ‘These files cannot be copied, transferred, or uploaded, and will be automatically erased when your device leaves the Tower or when our mission, should you choose to accept it, is over. JARVIS used the same program that I used on Coulson’s med file, so yes, Mr. Stark, I’m not sorry to say that most of the sensitive data has already been erased from JARVIS, with their consent.

‘JARVIS!’ - Stark said.

‘It was a very nice program, sir. And she asked pretty please with a cherry on top.’ - JARVIS said.

‘You softie. And you.’ - Stark pointed at Skye. - ‘Stop seducing the A.I with your hackerly wiles.’

‘Also.’ - Skye continued. - ‘I printed a few copies for anyone who prefers it analog’. - Skye tapped the dossiers - ‘The same rules applies for the hard copies’.

Barnes left the buffet table and picked one of the dossiers. Skye took a pencil from her back pocket and gave it to him. After he went back to his corner, Barton dismounted from the headrest of Romanov’s armchair, removed a mechanical pencil from his left boot, and picked up the second folder. May got the third folder, accepting the pencil.

‘Now, with you could please turn to page 47, you’ll see a lovely picture of Ms. Grace Green, a.k.a. the bitch who had me shot and yes, I’m holding a grudge.’ - Skye said. And the holotable showed a picture of a white middle aged woman.

‘She doesn’t like being shot.’ - Simmons whispered to Banner.

‘I feel just the same way.’ - Banner whispered back.

‘We know her.’ - Pepper said, all the eyes in the room turning to her.

‘We do?’ - Tony said.

‘Yes, we’ve met her last Labor Day in Saint Barts. Ms. Green is the C.E.O. of Ozel Pharmaceuticals. It’s not one of the big companies, but it’s very cutting edge.’ - Pepper said.

‘Oh my God, I drank mojitos with Hydra. I feel dirty.’ - Stark said.

‘Happens to the best of us, Mr. Stark.’ - Coulson said.

‘No need to swear off the mojitos, Stark. Ms. Green is not Hydra.’ - Skye said.

‘And how do we know that?’ - Hill said.

‘Well, for one thing, she’s jewish.’ - Skye pointed out.

‘Rayna is black.’ - Hill said.

‘Skye, why did you conclude that Ms. Green isn’t Hydra, besides her heritage?’ - Coulson said.

‘Rayna.’ - Skye said. - ‘Our intel showed that she worked for O.P. when and while it suited her.’

‘And now you believe that she’s working for Ozel Pharmaceuticals.’ - Hill said.

‘My research found that she used to work with Green. Simmons.’ - Skye called.

‘Oh, it’s my turn. Excuse me, excuse me.’ - Simmons said - ‘Skye asked me to take a look at the O.P. products currently on the market and I can say with certainty that at least 15% of them have Rayna’s signature style all over it, going back to the last decade.’

‘So they’re working together again?’ - Rogers asked.

‘No, our analysis showed that Rayna had no involvement with O.P. for the last two years.’ - Simmons said.

‘And as far as we know, she and Quinn are still together.’ - Skye said.

‘Then why go through all this?’ - May said.

‘They’re her dowry, aren’t they?’ - Fitz said.

‘What?’ - Pepper said.

‘Think about it. Rayna is brilliant. I mean, she’s completely bonkers, but you can’t deny that. Those 15% that Jemma mentioned, they’re beautiful. And, most important, they’re the company’s most lucrative products. If I were a gambling man, I’d bet on the fact that, in the last two years, OP lost money.’ - Fitz said.

Barnes mumbled something in Russian, probably cursing the evils of capitalism. When Natasha answered back, he startled, as if he hadn’t realized he’d spoke out loud.

‘So Green is trying to win Rayna back …’ - Barton contemplated the idea, taking the chance to interrupt the very uncomfortable staring contest. - ‘It’s almost romantic, Coulson.’

‘Yes, I always swoon when given humans to experiment.’- Coulson said. - ‘So we have the who, the what, the when, the where, and the why. We’re lacking the how we were found by Ms.Green, but this is just a preliminary brief. Any ideas?’

‘Would it be too naive to suggest that we move this evidence through the proper channels and have her arrested?’- Pepper asked.

‘Not naive, but not feasible on the foreseeable future. When Hydra reemerged, we went to the ground. They can’t charge someone for attempting to kidnap people who don’t exist’. - May said.

‘What we can do is find what else she has going on and wrap it with her on a pretty bow for some alphabet agency.’ - Skye said.

‘You guys went full ghost ops?’ - Wilson said.

‘So you’re hunting Hydra, but if any of you get caught or found out, the powers-that-be will just pretend they never heard of you? That you’re just a bunch of former SHIELD vigilantes out to get even, or worse, domestic terrorists?’ - Stark said.

‘Something like that.’ - Tripp said.

‘Some of us are foreign terrorists, thank you very much.’ - Simmons said.

‘Nothing but the smelliest cell in Guantanamo for us.’ - Fitz agreed.

‘That’s the reason for all the secrecy.’ - Hill said. - ‘That and plausible deniability.’

‘Why?’ - Rogers said, standing up. - ‘Why do it this way instead of joining one of the agencies? Or even the private sector? You know Stark is also after Hydra. Why go on with SHIELD?’

‘Captain Rogers, you did the right thing tearing SHIELD down.’ - Coulson said, standing up to lean at the holotable.

‘Then why rebuild it?’ - Banner said, approaching the main group.

‘SHIELD was corrupted within the system. For over 30 years, I was part of that system and never even noticed its infection. I’ve been with SHIELD for longer than you’ve been alive, Captain.’ - Coulson said.

‘Then it’s just a matter of habit?’ - Rogers said.

‘Barnes is right there.’ - Coulson pointed to the man by the end of the room. - ‘WWII is over. Half the intelligence is already after Hydra. Will you put down your shield, find a nice place on Brooklyn to settle down and sharpen your pencils?’

That was it, Rogers thought. Bucky was here. They could go off the grid, find somewhere far enough and hidden enough where they could rest. He was tired, and Bucky was so hurt and lost and afraid of him. And no matter what he did, Hydra would just keep coming back, spreading its tentacles like a weed until the whole world choked and..

‘No.’ - Rogers said.

‘Why?’ - Coulson asked, and he sounded sincere.

‘Because I can’t stop. I have all this strength, all this agility that I gained with the serum.’ - Rogers said.

‘That’s not why you fight, that’s how you fight.’ - Coulson stated.

‘Because I can’t sit back and let bad things happen when I can stand up and do something about it. Because if I keep quiet, there is a chance that no one else will shout.’ - Rogers said.

‘Now, why then should I sit back?’ - Coulson said, maintaining his even tone. - ‘And what about all the other people, the other agents, that dedicated their lives to do what they believed to be the right thing? Should they just give up and go home? We fucked up. Big time. Should we leave our mess for someone else to clean? No. We regroup, we reassess, we do our best to learn from our mistakes, to fix our wrongs. And we keep on fighting.’

‘I understand.’ - Rogers said.

‘And when we make what I hope will be different mistakes, feel free to shout at us.’ - Coulson said.

‘Oh, I will.’ - Rogers said.

‘Good.’ - Coulson said, feeling like he could finally breathe. Hill took that pause as her chance.

‘Until yesterday, there was nothing linking us together. And there’s still time and resources for them to get out of the tower without leaving a trace. But if we decide to take a part on this, you have to be aware of the possible consequences. SHIELD has no official support, Barnes is a wanted criminal, and Ms. Green, for all intents and purposes, is an upstanding businessperson and a citizen of the United States.’ - Hill said. - ‘At first, the target is Ms. Green, but I know you, Coulson, you want to take this opportunity and go for Rayna and Quinn, too. Both people smart enough to elude Hydra and us.’

Coulson nodded.

‘Sounds like fun.’ - Romanov said. - ‘It’s been ages since I’ve done some serious infiltration work.’

‘Count me in.’ - Barton said.

‘This is very nice and very “Fellowship of The Ring”, but let’s make it simple: if you want to join the party, raise your hand.’ - Stark said, and saw as the Avengers, Wilson, Hill, Pepper, and Barnes joined him raising their hands . - ‘Bunch of thrill-seekers… Coulson, you can have my JARVIS.’

‘Thank you.’ - Coulson said.

Romanov stopped by his side, almost whispering on his ear, ‘On a scale of 1 to 10, how much are you freaking out about having stood your ground against Captain America?’

Coulson picked the handkerchief on his breast-pocket and wiped his hands. ‘Eleven.’ - he said, and Romanov smiled.

‘I think your organization need some rebranding. You know, after Iolaus cauterized the mortal necks of the Lernaean Hydra, Hercules cut the immortal head with a sword given to him by Athena. Not with a shield.’ - Romanov said.

‘SWORD? And what would this acronym stand for?’ - Coulson said.

‘Oh, I’m sure you guys can work something out.’ - Romanov said.


	9. Chapter 9

It was decided (i.e, Skye insisted) that she was to remain at the Tower, so that JARVIS and her could comb through OP and Green’s data. Romanov would do the same, albeit in loco, infiltrating the company. The rest of the conspirators would go on with their own business and wait for the intel. Except for Barnes. He was uncomfortable staying at an strange place, especially one as strange as the Tower, but his safe house (Coulson’s place) was compromised. 

He could easily find Green and kill her - problem solved. Barnes went as far as offering to do it, which he thought was damn polite of him, but the consensus was that her death would be a short term solution. Potts said that the woman was the head of the company, and they needed to know if the attack was a company decision or a personal one. Simmons said that OP probably had many unethical experiments going on and they must be stopped. There were other reasons, but those were his favorites, so, for now, Green got to live and he would stay.

Barnes didn’t care about Green, Rayna, or Quinn. He did care about Hydra. Four months ago, he was destroying one of its bases, a few miles outside Baltimore, when he stumbled on Phillip J. Coulson’s file; Hydra wanted to know how he was alive. Barnes remembered dying once, in the cold. Hydra brought him back to life, but kept him on ice, while Nick Fury let Coulson free. He concluded that Fury’s resurrection was superior. With this in mind, Barnes copied the file before exploding the base, and went after Coulson.

Somehow, his initial plan of finding the man, kill every Hydra agent that came near him, and move on with his self-imposed mission, resulted in Barnes currently living on the same building with the girl that spoke too much, the man that spoke even more, and Steve. And now the voice from the walls was asking him if he planned to remain locked on his designated bedroom for another 24 hours (probably) and if they needed to ask for someone to assist him (definitely not). 

‘I’m not a “voice from the walls”, Sgt.Barnes, but I understand the confusion. There’s no man speaking through the comms. I’m an artificial intelligence.’ - JARVIS said, without receiving an answer.

‘Let’s make a deal: you go to the kitchenette, make yourself something to eat - I suggest a peanut butter sandwich - have some water, and I’ll keep everybody out of the apartment until you say otherwise, or as long as you don’t pose a threat to your wellbeing.’ - JARVIS said, still not getting any of the expected reactions.

‘Do we have a deal, Sgt.Barnes?’ - JARVIS tried once more. 

‘Yes.’ - Barnes finally said something. And as he gulped his sandwich, JARVIS assuaged Captain Rogers’ worries. Good thing Master’s R&D department developed sturdier punching bags. 

++++++

Romanov hadn’t worked undercover without outside support in years. There would be no pre-made cover story, no detailed research about the mark’s personal and professional life, no copy of keys or passwords in a pretty little package on her office. And her face had been all over the news up till three months ago. But Natasha wasn’t a marksman, a soldier, or an reformed arms dealer; she was a spy. Infiltrating OP promised to be fun. It took her a couple of days to build a convincing Agata Rutkowski, with her dark blond hair, round face, and a small wardrobe of good quality but well-worn clothes. 

Barton did his best to annoy her with Facebook updates from all of Agata’s 204 made-up friends and relatives, the cover’s cell phone vibrating every 15 minutes with an enerving accuracy. That man was not made for inactivity. Unfortunately, he was going to take his sweet time choosing his next job. It was like watching a debutante being wooed by half of the special forces, plus a few agencies and security firms. Natasha just hoped that Clint wouldn’t cave and accept his long-lost-and-now-conveniently-found brother’s offer to join the Bureau. The FBI was not ready to deal with the two Barton Brothers at the same time. The world probably wasn’t ready.

The company in charge of providing the cleaners for Ozel Pharmaceuticals HQ hired Agata so fast that Natasha considered opening a Job Agency if she ever decided to get off the business - she could write a mean CV. Although it didn’t hurt that the HR lady, Miss Biel, wanted to help such a nice Polish girl down on her luck, here’s a picture of my nephew, Jan Pawel, he’s a mechanic. Jan Pawel had kind eyes. Agata was probably going to go out with him once, depending on how long this job took, but for now she would play hard to get with the aunt.

By the end of her first week, Agata knew who was sleeping with whom, who stole pens and toilet paper, and that Harrison, the 9th floor receptionist, was doing some industrial espionage on the side to pay for his student loans. Jackpot. She hacked the bugs that Harrison had placed on all the of the main offices, so that their signals would be sent (also) to the Tower, without the risk of getting caught if the bugs were found. Agata placed other bugs in the building, because sometimes the best intel didn’t came from the members of the board, but from the mailboy who notices that Mark from Legal keeps getting packages from carparts.com when he doesn’t own a car or even know how to drive. True story. 

Next step, breaking into the servers. As marvelous as JARVIS were, there was only so much they could do remotely. She’d have to provide a link. There were three OP buildings on site: one for the Administration, on for the labs, and one for the servers and the IT department. There was another larger building in a second location, filled with labs and closer to the factory, but Natasha had decided to leave those for last, if necessary. 

And Juan was so sad working on Annex B (servers and IT), far away from his boyfriend, who was a security guard on the admin building, that Agata barely had to breathe the idea while they took a cigarette break before he asked her if they could change assignments. The security on Annex B was much better than at the Main Building (sorry, Juan’s boyfriend), and Natasha spent the next week studying its weakness and blind spots, trying to figure out how could she get in unseen. Although the servers took up most of the short building, their access was limited to a hand full and required two people going at the same time through a three factor authentication of handprint, retinal scan, and a 10 character password provided by security tokens. 

She took care of the handprints and the retinal scan without many difficulties, thanks to her scanning glasses. But Natasha would have to exchange the security tokens for mock ones on the day of the B&E, and change them back as soon as possible without their owners noticing. One thing Natasha could always count on was the fact that normal people never believed something untoward could happen to them, until it did. Sure, their boss will give them the Very Important security token and tell them to never ever ever leave it out of sight and they will do that … during the first week. By the end of the month, the token will be kept on the bottom of an unlocked drawer, besides a rubber band ball. If their boss is lucky, it will latched in their keychain, resting in the ceramic bowl on their kitchen counter. 

She also needed a secondary. So, after the 10 AM mass at St.Peter’s, Miss Biel was delighted to meet Michael, who was paying a short visit to his baby sister. That same evening, Natasha and Clint broke into Annex B. They couldn’t breach it via ground level - there was only two entries and they both had 24/7 guards, making impossible for them to slip in without some form of violence. They couldn’t climb the building and go through one of the windows, which had pressure alarms that went off when opened. And climbing would let them exposed to the watchers making rounds on the perimeter. Parachuting their way to the roof was clearly over-killing it. Up, down, and around were off. Underground it was. 

As they made their way through the sewer, Natasha hoped that OP at least followed the protocol for disposal of chemical waste. She didn’t want any acid corroding a perfectly good tac suit that she had taken great pains breaking in. Those things were expensive and SHIELD was no longer footing the bill. 

‘You know how I bitch about staying at the sniper’s nest while you go out and have all the fun?’- Clint radioed from his mask - ‘I take it back. I want my nests. They’re usually dry, rarely smell, and there’s no danger of running into the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Fuck, did you see the size of that rat? I hate Jersey.’

‘You don’t hate Jersey.’ - Natasha radioed back.

‘Yes, I do. Every time I come here something bad happens: I get shot, I get stabbed, Hurricane Katrina, I have to walk through the sewers...’ - Clint said.

‘Yeah, yeah... I promised to take you for gelato afterwards, haven’t I?’ - Natasha said, stopping in front of an old ladder.

‘I don’t want gelato. I want a 2-hour uninterrupted hot shower, pepperoni pizza, and beer.’ - Clint said, standing by her side.

‘You're getting spoiled in your old age.’ - Natasha said.

‘Damn right.’ - Clint said. - ‘Isn’t this ladder a bit short?’

‘Huh. Underground level?’ - Natasha said, and she began to climb it.

‘Underground level.’ - Clint agreed. - ‘Do you think they teach “Evil Lair 101” at Architectural School? I should really check that out some day.’

‘And they all look the same.’ - Natasha said - ‘I mean, if you have to design a dungeon, use some imagination, maybe try some interesting lighting effects. But no, it’s always damp concrete.’

‘I get the concrete, you know - it’s cheap, easy to clean. But what’s up with the dampness? Don’t they worry about water corrosion, infiltration?’ - Clint said, following her.

Natasha stopped by the hatch, checking it for alarms. It seemed clear. - ‘Last chance to change your mind, Hawkeye.’ 

‘Says the woman with the coordinates.’ - Clint said. - ‘C’mon, Widow. Getting cold feet?’

She didn’t deigned to answer that. Romanov twisted the hatch until there was enough space for the snake camera. - ‘What do you see, Hawk?’

‘Looks like some sort of storage room. Turn it around. Ok. Yeah. Back again? No surveillance in here. We’re good to go.’ - Barton said, watching the monitor screen in his hand.

Natasha finished opening the hatch and they entered the run-of-the-mill storage room - brooms, buckets, crates filled with whatever. The room wasn’t locked and it was quiet outside. They checked and, again, no surveillance. What the hell? The Upper Levels were like Fort Knox and not one lousy camera down here? They went down the the empty corridor, no doors, no rooms, no guards, no one. Quietly, both with ICERs in hand, they turned left found themselves on a laboratory. Also empty, because even evil scientists needed one night off.

‘The scientists aren’t coming down here through Annex B. I would have seen them. This lab must have some connexion with Annex C. Easier to hide there amongst the other white coats.’ - Natasha said, while starting to copy the contents of a computer.

‘But who is doing the cleaning?’ - Barton said. - ‘No one mentioned to you the creepy hidden lab?’

‘No.’ - Natasha said. - ‘Maybe it doesn’t look creepy to them. I mean, there’s no human body floating on a glass tube, no caged chimp screaming, no weird blood stains. And depending on how the passage from Annex C was build, it would only look like a regular, if long, corridor.’ 

‘They’re probably hiding the bodies on that freezer.’ - Barton said, pointing to the large metal door. - ‘I’ll go check the place out. Do you still need to hack the servers?’

‘Yes.’ - Romanov said, as she walked to the next computer.

‘Ok.’ - Barton said. And he had to give her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe with the lights on, this place didn’t look sketchy as hell, but somehow he doubted it. Barton opened the unlocked freezer and started to open the drawers. Yep, bodies, body parts, and what is wrong with that guy’s leg? He closed the freezer and went looking for the stairs, or the elevator, so they could get to the servers and the hell out of this place.

‘So. What did you find?’ - Natasha said, walking behind him.

‘The elevator.’ - Clint said. - ‘And new material for my nightmares.’

‘Sorry.’ - Natasha said.

‘Hey, not your fault. Let’s just finish this job, ok?’ - Barton said. 

They opened the elevator’s door and started to climb the shaft. Natasha had memorized the locations of all the elevators, so she had a pretty good guess of where they were going.They went two floors up and Barton cracked the door open enough for Romanov slip the snake camera. The hallway was clear. Before they left the elevator shaft, Natasha pulled a little device from her pocket - a jammer that would put any security camera in a 60 seconds loop. Doing her best to not expose them to the camera, she pointed the jammer and pressed the button.

‘Clear’. - Romanov said. Barton pushed the door open and they stepped outside. They made their way silently through the halls, jamming the cameras on their way, till they found the door that led to the server’s room. A guard was standing in front of the door, of course. They waited. He started to walk on their directions, Clint swallowing a curse. 15 seconds. The guard’s radio chirped. He picked up, mumbled something and turned the other way. They practically jumped into the corridor. Contacts. Silicone hands. Tokens. They’re inside in 47 seconds, shooting their jammers in all the directions, since Natasha didn’t know with precision where the cameras were.

‘There.’ - Barton said. They treaded carefully, eyes roaming in search of triggers and alarms. Clint jammed the camera placed in front of the station where Natasha connected her notebook.

‘Time?’ - Barton said.

‘Estimated 2 minutes.’ - Romanov said. 

Crap, Barton thought. They would have to jamm the same camera at least two other times, hoping that the guard at the surveillance room wouldn’t notice the two second glitch between the loops, or that the previous image and not their pretty faces got stuck in the new one. That happened once and it hadn’t been fun. But even if they had to shoot their way out of, it would be worth it. He had only seen pictures of Rayna and they were enough. There was something wrong with her eyes. And with her head, but her eyes were all kinds of wrong. If she and OP got what they wanted, Phil and that Skye girl would probably be inside that freezer right now. 

The light on his jammer began to shone, marking the end of the first minute.

‘Almost there.’ - Natasha said. - ‘I’m in.’

In the end, he had to press the jammer three more times, holding his breath, ICER in hand, but no one came for them. They made their way back to the sewers without interruption and Barton ate the hazelnut gelato. 

He went back to the Tower with their findings, but Natasha had to stay behind. It would be strange for Agata Rutkowski to just disappear. She stayed for another month - OP never suspected of the breach. She ended up having coffee once with Jan Pawel and he was really sweet. Miss Biel was right, he was perfect for Agata. Too bad that there wasn’t really an Agata for Jan Pawel. A little after that was dealt, she told Miss Biel that Michael had put on a good word for her and his boss in the City was hiring her as a receptionist. They hugged and she left. Miss Biel forgot about her in a fortnight.


End file.
